Mahela Jayawardene has stated that everything is done and dusted in Sri Lanka’s World Cup preparation and thus he declined SLC’s offer to be with the team during the World Cup. Jayawardene in the past produced plans to overhaul Sri Lanka's domestic system, only for those to be rejected by SLC.
Sri Lanka's sports minister and SLC's CEO invited Mahela Jayawardene to play a role in Sri Lanka's World Cup campaign but the former skipper declined the offer largely because he is disillusioned with Sri Lanka Cricket's general direction. Earlier in the past, Jayawardene produced plans to overhaul Sri Lanka's domestic cricket system, even before a committee featuring Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara and Aravinda de Silva made a detailed report on the Lankan cricket, but those proposals were rejected by SLC.
"I was [invited] but I have several other commitments. More than that, I didn't understand the role I am expected to play. There's no point in me getting involved tactically, or whatever if I don't have a say in the whole structure. The team is selected and everything is done and dusted. There is no room for me to come in and add something,” Jayawardene told Sunday Times.
"I am still happy to contribute in my little way with the management of the team, but nothing to do with the SLC. That's something I have told myself as well. I just don't have the appetite to come and work for anybody when I know that it's not the right place for me.
The anger in Jayawardene's part is mostly due to the fact that the structure was entirely ignored by the board, even though talented Lankan players are steadily moving out to England and Australia to play league cricket. Jayawardene strongly criticised that and said their efforts were in vain.
"We created a professional cricketing structure spending eight months. We offered to set it up for them but they rejected it. We did it because we don't want to lose our cricketers going to Australia and to league cricket in England. We need those experienced players in our system.
"There are some teams in our first class system where the average age is 25, which is sad. When we played, we had so many senior cricketers to guide us. Without them in our system, we cannot build a strong domestic cricket structure. And without doing that, there's no point in building stadiums."
In no uncertain words, Jayawardene criticised Angelo Mathews and Dinesh Chandimal's leadership who he believes could have been more responsible and their failures contributed to the rapid recent turnover of captains in the Sri Lanka side. Mathews was captain in all three formats when Jayawardene retired in 2015, but since then, Chandimal, Thisara Perera, Lasith Malinga, Chamara Kapugedara and - most-recently - Dimuth Karunaratne have held the reins.
"The only advice we gave Angelo was not to give in to cricket politics. He needs to be a stronger leader, to be with the players and do the right thing. But he gave in to cricket politics. He allowed other people to make decisions and did not stand up for his players. I am being honest. I have told him this as well and he accepts it. If he hadn't given in, we would probably not be in this situation today. Even if I see him today, that's the only complaint I will have against him," Jayawardene said.
"The number one rule in Sri Lanka is, if you are the captain, lead by example and do not allow any outsiders coming into that setup. That's the only way we ran the show and survived. It was unfortunate and it was not easy, either. You need to deal with a lot of unwanted elements. But if you are a strong character, that's something you have to do. I have nothing against him. He is a brilliant cricketer and a wonderful person but he did not handle this situation well. He should be the one who is leading this team at the World Cup. He had to give up because it was too much for him. But it was his fault.
"I think [Chandimal] was another victim of cricket politics. In the sense, he was another player like Angelo Mathews who was snared to elements behind the scene and went along with them rather than taking control of the team and being a strong leader."
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